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Recipe – Healthy Apple Loaf Cake

After our complete sugar meltdown of a recipe yesterday, I thought I’d better share something a little healthier with you today. Yesterday’s recipe was fattening, calorific and downright naughty. Today’s recipe is practically saint-like in comparison. They have one thing in common: they’re both yummy.

And with this Apple Loaf Cake, you can feel virtuous and smug when you eat it. It’s got hardly any saturated fat in it and is made from ingedients which are good for you.

Only problem is, it’s a little too good. It may not last very long. It didn’t in our house anyway! One day I ate a slice of this for breakfast AND lunch AND had a slice with a cuppa after dinner! Hey… It’s healthy so that makes it ok. Right?

The great thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to be too rigid. Keep the quantities the same, but use whatever you have in the house. It’s kind of a halfway house between a cake and a bread, so it’s not mega sweet which I quite like. The best thing about it is it’s sooooooo quick and easy to make; bung everything in a bowl, mix, in the tin, bake, eat. Sorted.

Ingredients

200g plain flour

100g wholwheat bread flour

2 tbsp runny honey

1 apple, grated

80g chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

50g dried fruit (I used a five-fruit mix, you could use dried cranberries, sultanas…etc)

1 egg, lightly beaten

50g butter, melted

250ml juice – not from concentrate. I used Grape, Raspberry and Apple juice, cos that’s what I had in the fridge

Method

— Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a loaf tin. I used my trusty silicone loaf case, but I like to put it inside a normal metal loaf tin otherwise it can lose its shape.

— Measure out the flour into a bowl, then grate your apple diectly into the bowl. You don’t need to peel it, just grate it straight into there… MENTAL?! Do it. Why make more work for yourself?!

— Add the rest of your ingredients to the bowl, reserving 30g of nuts. Mix everything together until well combined then spoon into your tin and level the top. Scatter the remaining nuts on top and get that bad boy in the oven.

— After 30 minutes, get a piece of kitchen foil and just cover the top of the cake – I found the top was browning but the middle was still raw. This will prevent the top from burning and having too tough a crust. Bake for another 30 minutes, but keep your eye on it. Take it out when a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.

This tastes totally awesome served warm with a smear of butter on it. Treat yourself, without the guilt!